


Every Word You Ever Said

by iwasnttrainedforthis



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25037851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwasnttrainedforthis/pseuds/iwasnttrainedforthis
Summary: In a world where the first words your soulmate says to you are written on your wrist, Eggsy figures out pretty quickly that Merlin is his soulmate.He keeps this information to himself. He’s never had a soulmate before, but he’s pretty sure they’re not supposed to try to drown you. Or throw you out of a plane without a parachute.
Relationships: Merlin/Gary "Eggsy" Unwin
Comments: 14
Kudos: 316





	Every Word You Ever Said

Eggsy trails Harry down the hallway. He can’t believe his life right now. He’s been arrested, then unarrested, then taken to some sort of underground lair. Is it still considered a lair if it belongs to the good guys? How sure is Eggsy that these are the good guys? He sneaks another look at Harry out of the corner of his eye as they approach a man holding a clipboard and standing by an open door.

“Galahad. Late again, sir,” the man says.

“Good luck,” Harry tells him.

The man motions with his clipboard. “In you go.”

Goosebumps break out over Eggsy’s entire body.

Those are the words of his soulmark. He’s been waiting to hear them his whole life. He’s spent a lot of lonely hours over the years, imagining various scenarios where the words on his wrist might be spoken. How he would reply if his soulmate was the one to speak first. How he’d say something cool, something clever, definitely something one-of-a-kind. Something he’d be proud to see on his soulmate’s skin.

Now that the moment is here, maybe, his mind is a total blank. He looks helplessly at the man who might be his entire future. The man looks back at him expectantly. Eggsy panics and says exactly nothing. Instead, he turns and walks through the door into a barracks style hall where a dozen other young people are already waiting, cursing himself the entire time.

The man follows Eggsy in, introducing himself as Merlin and then threatening their lives and the lives of their family members. Eggsy can only stare. This is not at all what he had imagined. One of the few non-arseholes in the group mistakes his disbelief for fear and tries to reassure him after Merlin leaves. Eggsy appreciates the effort but is anything but reassured.

After lights out, Eggsy lies in his bunk, mind racing too fast for sleep. He thinks about everything he’s seen and learned today, trying to put it all in some sort of order. First of all, his dad was training to be an intelligence agent when he was killed. Eggsy now has a chance to compete against a bunch of wankers for a job in the same agency. Second, Eggsy heard the words on his wrist from the man who will be training him for that job, who is at least twenty years older than him, well fit, and a bit terrifying. Eggsy hasn’t said a word to him, so he can’t even be sure their marks match. Third, soulmarks are fucking ridiculous, and Eggsy was an idiot for thinking they were even a little romantic. And finally, he has less than eight hours to figure out what he’s going to say to Merlin.

He’s still trying to come up with the perfect line, and wondering if it might get a smile out of Merlin, when the room starts to fill with water.

Five extremely long minutes later, dripping wet and chest heaving, he’s learned he can hold his breath for much longer than he thought and shatter a two-way mirror with his bare hands. He’d just met his soulmate, no way was he going to die now.

Except it turns out his soulmate was the one trying to kill them. Eggsy looks back at Amelia, lying lifeless on the bunk. When Merlin tells them to grab their gear from the trashed room, Eggsy looks him in the eye and says “Yes, sir.”

* * *

Merlin watches the recruits on his monitor as they get settled in their new undrowned dormitory. He takes a sip of his whisky. He usually doesn’t drink when he’s working, he’s not an agent. But he allows himself a glass for special occasions. It’s his least favorite part of the job, working with a fresh batch of recruits, and not just because it means they’ve lost somebody. He hates having to hear “Yes, sir,” out of the mouths of half a dozen shining new faces.

He rubs his wrist. After more than thirty years, first in the RAF and then Kingsman, any hope he once started out with has evaporated. He doesn’t even think about it most of the time. Doesn’t dwell on the fact that whoever his soulmate was, they must have heard what he had to say and decided they weren’t interested.

Dramatically drinking alone in his office notwithstanding, it gets easier every time. After all, it would be ridiculous to think that any of these bright-eyed children could be his soulmate. Thank god Charlie introduced himself with “Hesketh is the name, you might know my father, George?”

There was one pair of bright eyes today that made him wish otherwise, just for a minute. But that’s what the whisky’s for.

* * *

Eggsy heads towards the puppies, ignoring Hesketh, Digby and Parker already fighting over the Alsatian. He’s got his eye on the one on the bottom row that looks just like Ryan’s sweet, well-behaved Rottweiler mix did when she was a puppy. He’s crouching down to get a better look when he hears a sharp bark from right in front of him. He looks up into the big bug eyes of the smallest puppy of the lot. The puppy stares back at him, silent now that it has his attention.

He looks back down at the Rottweiler puppy, busy chewing on its own foot, then back at the bulldog puppy. Bulldogs are supposed to be notoriously stubborn though, aren’t they? Everyone else is already opening doors and attaching leashes. The bulldog puppy lifts one paw against the front of the cage. The eyes somehow get even bigger and more soulful. Eggsy has the door open before he can think twice.

Eggsy stands at attention with his pug puppy, fuck his life, as Merlin goes down the line, making his notes. Merlin raises his eyebrows when he gets to Eggsy. Eggsy stands a little straighter. Merlin doesn’t say anything, just makes a note on his clipboard. Eggsy hopes it’s something like “not afraid to make an unconventional choice, shows great promise” or even just “enjoys a challenge,” but probably not.

Merlin moves on to Roxy, holding his hand out so her poodle can sniff it before he gives the dog a pat. A man who hands out puppies can’t be all bad, right? Now that Eggsy’s had time to calm down since the excitement of last night, he’s regretting his words a little. At least now he’s got more time to figure out what sort of a man Merlin really is.

* * *

“Now, odds are you won’t be called to use an automatic rifle. We're not Special Forces, it’s not our job to do the heavy lifting. But on a mission, you may find yourself having to make use of whatever weaponry is at hand.” Merlin finishes loading the magazine, then starts reassembling the rifle while he lectures. “We’ll start with the TAR-21, one of the more popular models.” He steps up to the firing line and lifts the rifle to his shoulder.

Eggsy watches attentively. His range scores in the marines were top-notch so he’s not particularly worried. But he’s also not about to let himself get complacent. He won’t get another opportunity like this.

When he collapsed into his bunk last night after a grueling 15k hike and dog-wrangling session, it hit him that this is the longest he’s been away from Daisy since she was born. He’s sent a text to his mum to let her know he hasn’t been murdered, but a phone call is out of the question.

He decided then not to let the soulmate thing become a distraction. Maybe Merlin is his soulmate, maybe he’s not. That doesn’t matter right now. What matters is winning the Kingsman spot, so he can get Daisy and his mum out of Dean’s clutches.

Staying focused is sometimes easier said than done. He watches Merlin fire off a round of shots. The recoil on a gun like that is no joke, but Merlin doesn’t even seem to feel it. He lowers the rifle, checking the chamber is empty before placing it on the bench. “Eggsy, you’re up first,” he calls. Eggsy squares his shoulders and steps up.

* * *

Merlin switches to another camera, keeping an eye on the candidates as they attempt to teach their puppies about “down” and “stay.” Roxy’s poodle already has the basics down, Roxy’s just having the puppy practice. She’ll obviously make it to the top three, and it delights Merlin every time he gets to mention this in his briefings with Arthur.

Tragically Charlie has figured out the benefits of keeping a close eye on Roxy, and his puppy is also making good progress. On paper, Charlie’s scores keep him at the top of the list too. Not that it makes any difference to Merlin. As their trainer, he’s completely impartial. His eyes drift to Eggsy, kneeling on the ground in front of JB, trying to coax the little pug to lie down with the promise of a treat.

Seeing Eggsy with JB brings back memories of Harry’s Mr Pickle, back before he got stuffed and mounted. Mr Pickle was a smart little terrier but JB, bless his little doggy heart, is probably not the brightest of the batch. He’s a sweet puppy though. Merlin watches as JB ignores the treat to jump up and try to lick Eggsy’s nose. Eggsy laughs before he catches himself and steels his face back to neutral, gently pushing JB back in position.

Merlin makes a note on his clipboard. Eggsy might have made things a little harder for himself with his choice of puppy, but his instincts are good. Merlin watches Eggsy with JB for a few more minutes before Digby’s retriever crashes into JB, reminding him he’s supposed to be taking notes on all of the candidates.

* * *

Merlin looks up from his clipboard as he closes the infirmary door behind him and sighs. Eggsy is sitting in the chair next to Harry’s bed, asleep with his head tipped back and his feet over the side. JB snoozes on his lap, the reading for this week lying on the floor next to the chair. Since everyone else in the room is unconscious, he lets his eyes linger on the band Eggsy wears around his wrist. He can’t stop himself from wondering.

He’s never felt the need with any of the candidates before, but the information is in Eggsy’s file. Merlin would have to unseal it, which is not outside the range of his abilities.

He likes to imagine that if he slipped off the wristband, he’d see “in you go,” in his own handwriting. And as long as he never checks, he can keep imagining. If he looked, or heaven forbid, talked to Eggsy like a normal person, he’d have to face the truth. This way, he can keep pretending. Like a lottery ticket that might still have the winning numbers, so long as you never actually check.

He blames Harry for all of this. He picks up Harry’s chart. No change, again.

He reaches down and shakes Eggsy’s shoulder. “Wake up, lad,” he says.

Eggsy blinks his eyes open, smiling at Merlin. The smile falls away as he looks around and wakes up fully. “Shit, sorry, didn’t mean to fall asleep.” He sits up and JB jumps off his lap with a huff.

“Back to the dormitory with you, you’ll need a decent night's sleep for tomorrow’s test,” Merlin tells him sternly.

Eggsy groans. “I’ll sleep better here, Charlie snores like a jackhammer.”

Merlin scoffs. “You and I both know it’s Roxy doing the snoring.”

“Yeah, but it’s creepy that you know that.”

* * *

Eggsy exchanges a look with JB as they approach the open door. The music pouring out into the hallway has him wondering if he hasn’t taken a wrong turn somewhere. But sure enough, when they poke their heads into the office, Merlin is bent over a workbench, soldering iron in hand.

He doesn’t appear to have heard Eggsy enter. Eggsy takes the opportunity to step a bit closer, all stealthy like. He watches Merlin painstakingly fuse a chip to a circuit board.

“I thought situational awareness was a critical skill for an intelligence operative?” Eggsy asks. Merlin startles, swearing as the chip breaks off. He glares at Eggsy, setting down the circuit board and rolling his chair across the office to kill the music. “You don’t have to turn it off on my account. I wanna find out if Jolene takes her man or not.”

Merlin ignores this. “What are you doing here, Eggsy.”

Eggsy aims for innocent. “That was the task right? To locate your office?”

Merlin glances at his watch. “It should have taken you at least another hour.”

“What can I say, I’m just that good.”

Merlin stares at him, steely-eyed.

Eggsy breaks. “I realised it was gonna take a while for my program to brute-force the system and I got peckish and decided to stop by the caf. And then I thought, maybe there’s an easier way? So I told Roberta I wanted to bring you a sandwich, and got directions.”

Merlin narrows his eyes. Eggsy sweats a little. “So where’s my sandwich?”

Eggsy cracks a grin. “She said you’d already eaten lunch but you sometimes pick up a snack around now.” He pulls a slightly smushed oatmeal raisin monstrosity wrapped in clingfilm from his pocket and tosses it to Merlin.

Merlin catches it, then points to the desk in the corner. “I’ll give you credit for completing the task faster than anybody else, but the point of the exercise is to make sure you’re familiar with basic hacking techniques. We’re still trying to crack some of Valentine’s servers, I want to see what you can do while we wait for the rest of your hapless cohort.”

“Yes, sir.” Merlin eyes him for a moment before turning back to the work bench. “Whatcha working on over there?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you if you survive the parachute jump tomorrow.”

Eggsy’s pretty sure he’s joking.

* * *

Eggsy hits the ground with a bone-jarring thud. He’s still clutching Roxy, relieved they’re both alive. After the relief comes blinding rage. Eggsy’s not even listening to Merlin’s little after-action review. All he can think about is how he was starting to really like Merlin. Starting to cautiously hope that the universe might have given Eggsy something good, to make up for all the shit in his life. All while Merlin was plotting to throw Eggsy out of a plane without a parachute.

Eggsy stays behind when the others leave. “Sorry, sir, but why the fuck did you choose me as the gimp? Am I the expendable candidate?”

Merlin tilts his head. “No, no, no, you don’t talk to me like that.” He gestures at his ear. “You have a complaint, you come here and you whisper it in my ear.”

What. The. Fuck. And yet, Eggsy finds himself stepping forward. Sometimes he thinks that’s the worst part. No matter what Merlin does to him, Eggsy can’t help but find him wildly, magnetically attractive. He’s not sure if it’s because of the soulmate thing, or if it’s the strength in Merlin’s lean frame. Or the piercing eyes. Or the handsome profile. Or the low voice Eggsy hears now in his ear, telling him “You need to take that chip off your shoulder.” The tall bastard leans down, reaching behind Eggsy. The next thing he knows, he’s flying backwards as his parachute deploys.

Merlin stares Eggsy down as he walks past him back to the manor. Eggsy manages to keep his face under control until he’s gone.

* * *

Merlin pulls up yesterday’s footage from the simulated urban combat course. He watches on his monitor as Eggsy gets a running start and leaps halfway up the first wall. Once he makes it to the top, he executes a showy little flip to get to the next platform, glancing up at the camera in the corner before he does.

“Should have known I’d find you here,” says Harry from behind him. Merlin startles. He pauses the playback and minimizes the screen with a few keystrokes, turning to face Harry.

“Some of us have more to do than sit around and wait for exciting things to happen.”

“Yes, I can see you’re very busy.”

Merlin resists the urge to justify his perfectly routine review of candidate footage. “I’d like you here at 2300 for the train test, if you think you can manage,” he says instead.

Harry just rolls his eyes. “What do you think of Percival’s and Chester’s candidates? Will they pass?”

“Percival’s candidate, almost certainly. Chester’s?” He pauses. “I’m leaning towards no. But he’s obnoxious enough that could just be wishful thinking on my part.” Harry looks thoughtful. “You don’t want to know what I think about Eggsy?”

Harry scoffs. “I know Eggsy will pass.” He glances back at Merlin’s now blank monitor. “And I know what you think about him.”

Bastard. Merlin swiftly changes the subject and they spend a few minutes brainstorming ways to get eyes or ears on Valentine. As Harry gets ready to leave, Merlin makes a show of shuffling through some papers on his desk. “I don’t know exactly what you have planned for your 24 hours with Eggsy, but if you have time I thought he might appreciate these.” Merlin hands over a file with a few photos from Lee Unwin’s training.

Harry flips through them briefly, eyebrows raised. “I was planning on sharing a few stories, I hadn’t even thought about checking the archives.” He looks back up. “Very thoughtful of you, Merlin.”

“Don’t look so surprised,” Merlin tells him. He gathers up the remaining files on the desk. “Now get out of here, I have some baby spies to terrorize.”

* * *

Eggsy watches through the front window as Harry gets in the cab and drives off. He throws himself down on one of the overstuffed armchairs, tossing his hat to the side so he can hang his head properly. Things have not gone at all according to plan. For one, he was supposed to pass the final test with flying colours. Once he’d proved to everybody that he wasn’t some shiftless layabout, that he was Kingsman material, he was going to go to Merlin. Do a dramatic reveal, sweep him off his feet. Or something. He hadn’t worked out all the details yet.

He ruffles his hair one last time, then stands and heads for Harry’s office. Time for plan B. He’s betting that someone who can hack into Harry’s private servers would be someone worth keeping around in the tech department. He’s not giving up Merlin, and he’s not giving up on Kingsman either.

* * *

Eggsy tears around the corner into the hangar, lungs and legs burning. Merlin is standing in the doorway of the plane like an avenging angel. Eggsy ducks, covering his head instinctively as Merlin takes out the last jumpsuit following him.

As soon as the bullets stop flying, he’s bounding up the steps into the plane. He collapses into the seat nearest the door.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he tells Merlin, only to have his hopes dashed to pieces. Fucking Valentine and his fucking biometric security.

He barely made it out alive, and now he has to go right back in there. And this time, they’ll know he’s not Chester King. But the world needs saving, and for some reason Eggsy is the only one who can do it. He makes a play for the rifle, but ends up with the umbrella instead. He’s secretly glad. Makes him feel like Harry is still here, watching over them.

He takes a deep breath, preparing himself. He looks back at Merlin. He made it back here once, he might not make it back a second time. He bounces up on the balls of his feet, grabs Merlin by the back of his head, and kisses him. When Eggsy pulls back, Merlin just stares back at him, dumbstruck. Not a great sign. But it’s too late to take it back now.

Eggsy pastes on a grin. “For luck, yeah?” He tosses in a wink for good measure, then turns and sprints down the stairway to his doom.

* * *

Merlin watches Eggsy fighting with his heart in his throat. He should be used to it, but he’s never hated sitting powerless behind his screens as much as he does right now. Every time Gazelle’s razor-sharp legs slice the air next to Eggsy, his hands clench tighter on his gun. He forces himself to set it aside and start scrolling through the lair’s security system again. There’s got to be something he’s overlooked that he can use to give Eggsy an advantage.

He stops typing when he sees Gazelle fall, and watches as Eggsy dispatches Valentine.

“Well done, son,” he tells Eggsy, relieved beyond measure. “Harry would be proud of you,” he adds.

Now that he can breathe again, Merlin starts planning their next steps. He verifies Roxy’s current coordinates and programs the autopilot. He pings the relevant local authorities to organize the release of the hostages. Thankfully they still have their heads attached.

He turns to see Eggsy stepping onto the plane. The beautiful bespoke suit Harry had made is torn and stained. The beautiful face looks a little worse for the wear too, bruises starting to swell on his cheek and a cut on his lip. Merlin is reminded of the kiss he has been trying very hard not to think about.

Merlin hits the button to engage the autopilot. There’s a slight jolt as the plane starts taxiing down the runway. He swivels his chair to face Eggsy, frowning. “There was no need for you to bring champagne, we’ve got loads on the plane.”

Eggsy just smiles as he sets the bottle aside and makes his way to Merlin’s side. “We just saved the world, Merlin.”

"Yes we did, Eggsy,” Merlin says. Eggsy props himself up on the desk in front of Merlin. Merlin wants to make a comment about delicate machinery but Eggsy’s smile is less confident now and he’s fidgeting with his watch.

“There’s something I wanted to show you now, since we’re still alive and all,” says Eggsy. Merlin stares at him.

Eggsy unhooks the watchband, and angles his wrist so Merlin can read the words written there. Merlin reaches out a shaky hand to hold his wrist. "In you go." Just like he imagined. Eggsy shivers when he traces the words with a fingertip. Merlin’s eyes start to sting. He closes them and rests his forehead against Eggsy’s hand until he can get his face under control again.

He looks back up at Eggsy. “Why didn’t--” he clears his throat and tries again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t--” Eggsy reaches out to take hold of Merlin’s hand. “There was a lot going on.” Merlin keeps his hand still while Eggsy gently unbuckles Merlin’s watch now and smooths his thumb over the tiny ‘Yes, sir’ written on the skin underneath. Now it’s Merlin’s turn to shiver. “And you did start threatening me and my family before I even got a chance to say something back.”

“I suppose that’s true. Made the wrong impression, did I?”

Eggsy huffs. “You think?” He squeezes Merlin’s hand, “I wanted to prove that I was good enough for you.” He’s not making eye contact anymore.

Merlin squeezes his hand back. “I think saving the world more than qualifies.”

Eggsy leans forward to kiss him, and it’s softer than the ‘we might both die so why not’ kiss from earlier. Or at least it starts out that way. Merlin is about to pull Eggsy into his lap when the autopilot dings and the plane starts its descent. He releases Eggsy reluctantly. The world might be saved but they still have some unpleasant tasks in front of them. But he's not alone anymore.

“Will you come with me to Kentucky?” he asks.

Eggsy looks solemn, but puts a hand on his shoulder. “Try and stop me.”


End file.
